Deucalion

The book was written by one Deucalion, who seems to have been a priest or general—or perhaps both—and he was an Atlantean.

Deucalion you say?

There was a Deucalion in the Greek mythology.

She was Deucalion’s wife.”

“Deucalion,” he said, “believe me that I have not sought this office.

“It is not I that can carry on Deucalion’s work with Deucalion’s power, but rest content, my friend, that I shall do my humble best to follow exactly on in your footsteps.

“The proclamation said: ‘We relieve our well-beloved Deucalion of his present service, because we have great need of his powers at home in our kingdom of Atlantis.’”

“If Deucalion has small time to spare from his government for brooding over his fatherland, Atlantis, at least, has found leisure to admire the deeds of her brilliant son.

It is Deucalion who is held up as the model and example.

Mothers name their sons Deucalion, as the most valuable birth-gift they can make.

Deucalion is a household word.

No, my Lord Deucalion, if it were merely the Gods who were your competitors on men’s lips, your name would be a thousand times the better known.”

But for the memory of those early years, when we expended as much law and thought over the ownership of a hay-byre as we should now over the fate of a rebellious city, I will try and speak plain to you even now, Deucalion.

You see the faith I put in you, Deucalion, by telling you what you wish to learn.”

I tell you, Deucalion, there is a marvellous fascination about the woman.”

You were always a strong man, Deucalion.”

Oh, Deucalion, you shall see Phorenice in all her glorious beauty and her magnificence one of these fine days soon, and believe me you will go down on your knees and repent.”

“Even myself, Deucalion.

I had a fine confidence in my own strategy then, Deucalion.

It was a fine melee, Deucalion, that last one.”

“‘Such a glorious mistress as you,’ I said, ‘Yes.’ And from that moment, Deucalion, I have been her slave.

“Well, Deucalion, you are Yucatan; or, rather, you were yesterday, and have been these twenty years.”

But had another man been appointed to this vice-royalty, you might have been sadly shorn, Deucalion.

But even to retain your good opinion, Deucalion—which I value more than that of any man living—I cannot do here as you have done.

You must not judge all other men by your own strong standard: a Tatho is by no means a colossus like a Deucalion.

During every day of a very weary voyage, I have promised myself when sitting before the meagre sea victual, that presently the abstinence would be more than repaid by Deucalion’s welcoming feast.

Deucalion, have you forgotten what it is to have a palate?

He was responsible to the Lord Tatho, he said, for my safe conduct; it was certain that the beasts would contrive to seize some of the ship’s company before they were satiated; and if the hap came to the Lord Deucalion, he (the captain) would have to give himself voluntarily to the beasts then, to escape a very painful death at Tatho’s hands later on.

Our ships hung out the colours and signs of Tatho and Deucalion openly and without shame, so that all who looked might know their origin and errand; but the other navy came on without banner or antient, as though they were some low creatures feeling shame for their birth.

“It is clear to see,” said Dason, “that you have been set to bring Deucalion back to Atlantis as a prop for Phorenice.

Well, we others find Phorenice hard enough to fight against without further reinforcements, and so we want Deucalion in our own custody to deal with after our own fashion.”

“Why, then, Tob, we shall send you all to the fishes in very short time, and instead of Deucalion standing before the Gods alone, he will go down with a fine ragged company limping at his heels.”

As for letting you have my Lord Deucalion, that is out of the question.

For see here, pot-mate Dason; in the first place, if I went to Atlantis without Deucalion, my other lord, Tatho, would come back one of these days, and in his hands I should die by the slowest of slow inches; in the second, I have seen my Lord Deucalion kill a great sea lizard, and he showed himself such a proper man that day that I would not give him up against his will, even to Tatho himself; and in the third place, you owe me for your share in our last wine-bout ashore, and I’ll see you with the nether Gods before I give you aught till you’ve settled that score.”

Up till that time, for half a life-span, I had heard men shout “Deucalion” as a battlecry, and in my day had seen some lusty encounters.

Keep a guard on Deucalion, and come with me, shipmates!”

If those that are against her took so much trouble to kill my Lord Deucalion before he could come to her aid, I can fancy she will not be niggard in her joy when I put Deucalion safe, if somewhat dented and blood-bespattered, on the quay.”

The Lord Deucalion for the block, indeed!”

I do not see my Lord Deucalion.

“What with Phorenice and Tatho both so curious for his welfare,” said Tob, “my Lord Deucalion seems but a dangerous passenger.

“I’m thinking,” said Tob, “that my Lord Deucalion will remember me only as a very rude fellow when he steps ashore amongst all this fine gentility.”

“By the Gods, Deucalion, you may be a great prince, but I’ve only known you as a man.

My Lord Deucalion, will you pick your way with niceness over this common ship and tread on the genteel carpet they’ve spread for you on the quay yonder?”

Upon which I retorted that Phorenice had commanded Deucalion, the man, to attend before her, and had sent no word of her pleasure as to his outer casing.

“It would be a favour,” said their spokesman, “if the great Lord Deucalion would take his vengeance now, instead of delivering us to the tormentors hereafter.”

“For others,” she said, “it is fitting that they should do so, once, twice, or several times, according to their rank and station, for I am Empress, and they are all so far beneath me; but you are Deucalion, my lord, and though till to-day I knew you only from pictures drawn with tongues, I have seen you now, and have judged for myself.

And so I make this decree: Deucalion is above all other men in Atlantis, and if there is one who does not render him obedience, that man is enemy also of Phorenice, and shall feel her anger.”

Deucalion, the way these people fawn on me gives me a nausea.

I have been at some pains to procure my tongue-pictures of you, Deucalion, and though you do not know me yet, I may say I knew you with all thoroughness even before we met.

So I have sent for you, Deucalion, the one strong man in all the world.

“But that still further proves your strength, Deucalion.

But for to-day, Deucalion, I have you, and you have me, and there is peace round us, and some prettiness of display.

“You are a strong man, Deucalion,” she said.

But to-day I must carry through the honourable reception I have planned for you, Deucalion.

My Lord Deucalion can drop his simplicity now, and fig himself out in finery to suit the fashion.”

“If my Lord Deucalion thinks this a rudeness, he can give a word to Phorenice, and I shall be whipped.

The Empress will do much for Deucalion just now.”

But when I saw you first step out from that red pavilion they had pitched at the harbour side, I—I felt a pity for you, Deucalion.

“You must be a very blind man, Deucalion, or a very daring one.

“Deucalion,” they lisped with mincing voices, bowing themselves ridiculously to the ground so that all their ornaments and silks might jangle and swish.

“Deucalion may have more beside, if he asks for it prettily.

My good Deucalion, they must have been rustic folk in that colony of yours.

“You may be an honest man, Deucalion,” she said, at length, “but you are a monstrous cold one.

“Deucalion is my poor name,” I said, “but I cannot expect you will know it.

‘I’ll have Deucalion for my husband,’ said she, ‘and then we will see who can stand against my wishes.’”

I should go out an unknown man from the little cell of a temple, I should do my work, and then, whether I took freedom with me, or whether I came down at last myself on a pile of slain, these people would guess without being told the name, that here was Deucalion.

Here was Zaemon that was father to Nais, Zaemon that had seen me yesterday seated on the divan at Phorenice’s elbow, and who to-day could denounce me as Deucalion if so he chose.

If the word had been given on the Sacred Mountain to those who sat before the Ark of the Mysteries that Atlantis would prosper more with Deucalion sent to the Gods, I was ready to bow to the sentence with submissiveness.

This is the Lord Deucalion.”

But at least they were loyal to their policy; they had decided that Deucalion was their enemy; they had already expended a navy for his destruction; and now that he was ringed in by their masses, they lusted to tear him into rags with their fingers.

“My brother,” he said, “which have you come to serve, Deucalion or Atlantis?”

This new Empress is the bane of our Clan, Deucalion, these latter days.

But I tell you, Deucalion, that the High Gods try our own faith hard.

Deucalion, you should have seen how he was mangled when they brought him back to me here.”

“Oh, all men know what they were taught as children, Deucalion; but these priests were unarmed, according to the rubric, which ordains that they shall intrust themselves completely to the guardianship of the High Gods during the hours of sacrifice.

“I should not like harm to come in your way, Deucalion,” he said aloud.

But presently the word “Deucalion” began to be bandied about, and there came a moderation in the zeal of these enthusiasts.

Deucalion, the man who had left Atlantis twenty years before to rule Yucatan, they might know little enough about, but Deucalion, who rode not many days back beside the Empress in the golden castle beneath the canopy of snakes, was a person they remembered; and when they weighed up his possible ability for vengeance, the shouts died away from them limply.

“Deucalion, man of ice,” she retorted.

But think, Phorenice, he is Deucalion; and if you slay him here for this one thing, there is no other man within all the marches of Atlantis who would so worthily serve—”

I wish to be no Goddess to you, Deucalion.

Just think that there is a woman seated beside you on this cushion, Deucalion, and look upon her, and say what words come first to your lips.

No, Deucalion, I promise that—you shall be no puppet.

You carry a crudeness in these colonial manners of yours, Deucalion, that palls on one after the first blunt flavour has worn away.

“If I do not change yours, my Deucalion, there will be more trouble brewed for this poor Atlantis that you set such store upon.

“Are you afraid for my neck, then, Deucalion?”

“You handle yourself like a sore man, Deucalion.

Deucalion, hail me those fools in that boat.

You see what affectionate creatures we women are, Deucalion.”—The galley was brought up against the royal quay and made fast to its golden rings.

And you shall do it too with your own proper hands, my Deucalion, whilst I watch your devotion.”

“You came for attention at the hands of Deucalion.

I am quite glad now, Deucalion, that the mammoth gave us that furious ride and that spill, since it has brought me such a bonny present.

I am glad you are not one of your gross, overfed men, Deucalion.

But I am no Goddess to you, am I, Deucalion?

You will be a God yet yourself, Deucalion, with these silly Atlanteans, if only you will use your wit and cleverness.”

There are many exasperations, Deucalion, in governing these common people.”

I am taking holiday now, Deucalion, am I not, whilst you learn to woo me?”

“If you will keep a fight to yourself now, Deucalion, where will your greediness carry you when I am your shrinking, wistful little wife?

And always above the burly uproar of the fight came very pleasantly to my ears Phorenice’s cry of “Deucalion!” which she chose as her battle shout.

“Work hard with those paddles, Deucalion, and take me in through the water-gate and let me be restored to my comforts again.

You were a difficult man to thaw, Deucalion, but you warm perceptibly as you keep on being near me.

You would feel pleasure if the girl escaped, Deucalion?”

Deucalion, you are too stiff and formal.

It’s done by no orders of mine, Deucalion.

Why, my Deucalion, would you have no sumptuary laws?

You make me blush with your fine pleasantries, Deucalion, and there is no fan-girl here to-night to cool my cheek.

Indeed, Deucalion, I think it would be a pretty attention to me if you did arrange some such ceremony.

My Lord Deucalion has given me much food for thought this day, and presently I go to my chamber to muse over the future policies of this State throughout the night.

you are a tardy wooer, Deucalion.

Yes, indeed, you are finely decorous, Deucalion, in your old-fashioned way, but you are a mighty poor wooer.

There, get you gone, if the atmosphere of a maiden’s bed-chamber hurts your rustic modesty, and your Gods keep you, Deucalion, if that’s the phrase, and if you think They can do it.

“What do you want of me, Deucalion?”

I am Deucalion, girl, and if you still have qualms, remembering that, do not come.”

I had heard so much of Deucalion, and I thought I read honesty in you when first you came ashore; but now I know that you are no better than the rest.

I offered him—oh, Deucalion, it makes me blush to think of the things I did offer to that man, but there was no stirring him.

I have a delicacy in hearing what you want to say to my sister, Deucalion.”

Presently, seated on that carved throne of granite which he has built me yonder, I shall take my Lord Deucalion to husband.

Deucalion, that is to be my husband, will lay you in that awful bed, as a symbol that so shall perish all Phorenice’s enemies, and then he will release the rams and lower the upper stone into place, and the world shall see your face no more.

“If the girl presumes on our old familiarity, or thinks that I jest, show her now, Deucalion, that I do not.”

We are not as others, you and I, Deucalion.

I take this man Deucalion, to be my husband, to share with me the prosperity of Atlantis, and join me in guarding our great possession.

“Ah,” she said, with her eyes sparkling, “now you are part of me indeed, Deucalion, and I feel you have strengthened me already.” She pulled down the neck of her robe.

Deucalion, if I had known the pleasure it gives to be made a wife, I do not think I should have waited this long for you.

“Tasted you ever any sweet so delicious as this knowledge that we are made one now, Deucalion, past all possible dissolving?”

“We grow nervous with our married life, my Deucalion,” she said.

And meanwhile, a Deucalion with his troop will march out of the city well away from here, without tuck of drum or blare of trumpet, and fall most unpleasantly upon their rear.

There must be something warmer than the ordinary between us two, Deucalion, if you could guess who walked beneath all these mufflings.”

And all the while he shall remember that I have Nais near me, living and locked in her coffin of stone, to play with as I choose, and to give over to what insults may come to my fancy.’ That is what she said, Deucalion.

You seem to have made a fine impression on Tob, Deucalion.

Come, Deucalion, let me lead you to the place.”

Bah, Deucalion!

“Well, I have figured it out as such for many a day, but I know when I meet my better, and I’m content to serve under Deucalion.

“In truth I did, and there is no denying it, and I tell you plain, there is not another man living that I would have broken this voyage for but Deucalion.

“My Lord Deucalion will be king of this new kingdom we shall build in the Tin Islands, and a right proper king he’ll make, as you untravelled ones would know, if you’d sailed the outer seas with him as I have done.” Beneath which I read a regret, but said nothing, having made my plans from the moment of stepping on board, as will appear on a later sheet.

Deucalion shall be God for our children.”

I pour this wine as a libation to Deucalion, great lord that is to-day, Hero that shall be to-morrow, God that will be in time to come!” And then all those on the ship joined in the acclaim till they were beyond the reach of my voice, and were battling their way out to sea through the roaring breakers of the bar.

It seems that you are Deucalion; though I should not have known you myself in those rags and skins, and behind that tangle of hair and beard.

I am a peaceful man, Deucalion, and have taken a wife who requires nourishment.

But when he comes, you will be guided to his place.’ Well, Deucalion, I think I was guided, but how, I do not know.

And look, Deucalion, it is a small matter, and it would be less likely to slip your memory if you saw to it at once on your landing.

Well, Deucalion, it is dangerous for me to be missing from my temple overlong, so I will go.

“All hail to Deucalion,” he cried, “King of Atlantis, duly called thereto by the High Council of the priests.”

Deucalion when he landed here new from Yucatan was a strong man.

And for that you will need all a strong man’s strength.”—He stepped back, and looked me up and down.—“There are not many folk that would take you for the tidy clean-chinned Deucalion now, my brother.

So if by chance we do not meet again till we stand up yonder behind the stars, giving account to the Gods, fare you well, Deucalion.”

We should be seen, and it would not be long before some one put a name to Nais; and then it would be an easy matter to guess at Deucalion under the beard and the shaggy hair and the browned nakedness of the savage who attended on her.

“Deucalion, my love,” she whispered.

You should not have let me stand in the way of Atlantis’ good, Deucalion.

There was no trumpet to announce my coming, no herald to proclaim my quality, but the Priests as a sheer custom picked up “Deucalion!” as a battle-cry; and some shouted that, with a King to lead, there would be no further ground lost.

The word “Deucalion!” was bandied round and handed back down the line.

As for Deucalion, he is dead any time these nine years.”

And besides, though you are a great man, Deucalion, you are not chief.

I, Deucalion, have been appointed King of Atlantis by the High Council of the Priests who are the mouthpiece of the most High Gods, and if I do not have my reign, then there will be no Atlantis left to carry either King or Empress.

It gives me a pang to think that I shall not be the first to lie in your arms, Deucalion.”

When any spoilers came to the house where she lay, she would know that Deucalion had been taken up to the Gods, and she would not be long in following him.

Why, there is Deucalion, that once I took the flavour of and threw aside when he cloyed me.”

You are a very rustic person, Deucalion.

Deucalion, you will live behind the times.

I know somewhat of men, even men of your stamp, Deucalion, and you will never forget that you came very near to loving me once.”

The names, places, counts, and customs below are the story's own, as the prefatory frame reads them and as Deucalion tells them.

The contents run from a prefatory, "The Legatees of Deucalion," through twenty numbered chapters, and they end on "On the Bosom of the Deep."

What the novel claims, as story: A doctor named Coppinger reads a wax-on-talc book from a cave in Grand Canary and calls the writer Deucalion, an Atlantean.

In that story Deucalion has ruled Yucatan and Mexico for twenty years.

Deucalion later says he ruled "this country of Yucatan, and Mexico beyond" for twenty years, first under the old King and then as minister to the Empress.

The finder recalls the Greek Deucalion and Pyrrha, and calls that pair their Noah.

Phorenice is not Deucalion's wife in the end, and she does not survive the sea.

The proclamation says they relieve Deucalion because they have great need of his powers at home in the kingdom of Atlantis.

Mothers in Atlantis name their sons Deucalion.

Deucalion says that only in Atlantis, Egypt, and Yucatan has man dared to hold his own against the beasts.

Phorenice calls down fire on a living cloven-hoofed horse and is hailed "Phorenice, Goddess of all Atlantis." She later tells Deucalion that all seven higher priests know the trick of calling down the fire, and that she filched it.

On an older mission Deucalion found the blacks clearly masters of the land, and the Atlantean people living there only on sufferance.

The Tin Islands, which are not the new home of Deucalion.

Deucalion leaves the ship on the Atlantean coast that faces Europe, in the Dangerous Lands, and does not sail on.

The hero's name is Deucalion.

He pours the last horn of wine to "Deucalion, great lord that is to-day, Hero that shall be to-morrow, God that will be in time to come." Deucalion calls it blasphemy.

Years later a nymph tells Deucalion there is no Yucatan.

Deucalion sees the granite throne from a wood outside the city and counts her sleep at eight years.

Tatho, in the pass, says Deucalion has been dead any time these nine years.

They are Deucalion and Nais.

The prefatory is a modern frame, not a chapter of Deucalion's life.

Deucalion speaks from here to the end.

Deucalion follows with the prescribed meekness.

Nobody speaks against Deucalion's twenty years, and nobody asks for a change.

Deucalion's name at home is a household word, second only to one other human name, and the Gods are poor competitors because modern science has grown past the tether of the older Gods.

Deucalion is still unmarried.

Deucalion must leave the territory at the next sunrise and report in Atlantis.

He will not let Deucalion go in one small ship.

Deucalion may not inspect the work, because the sea belongs to the Mariners' Guild.

Deucalion calls that a certificate of the growing power of Atlantis and of her finest over-sea colony.

Deucalion puts a lance into an eye.

Tob is afraid of what Tatho will do if Deucalion is harmed.

Deucalion's axe, early in that fight, is said to do as little harm as if it had been delivered against the ark of the Mysteries.

Dason wants Deucalion, so that he cannot prop Phorenice.

Deucalion pours a horn of wine at Tob's feet and promises that if he comes into power again he will not forget the voyage.

Tob splashes wine back at Deucalion's feet.

Deucalion picks out the temple where he was admitted to manhood, the pyramid where he was initiated to the small mysteries, and the house where his father and mother reared him.

The port-captain does not know Deucalion in plain clothes.

Deucalion will not change into the chamberlains' frippery in the crimson pavilion.

Deucalion has hunted mammoths.

She is second lady in the kingdom, and she warns Deucalion that women stand high in Atlantis now.

Deucalion sits still.

Deucalion despises the sport.

Deucalion wants her clothed, because it is not decent that an Atlantean go bare like a savage from Europe.

The captain's lodge is packed with what Deucalion reads as private tribute from traders.

She came back into the city meaning to kill him, because Phorenice has tired of an unmated life and has proclaimed that she will have Deucalion for husband.

Deucalion answers from a voyage he made years back to Europe, gathering slaves.

Deucalion is bound and dragged to a robbed temple that was once a fane for travellers giving thanks for a safe journey to the capital.

Zaemon comes to Deucalion and names him.

In the sacred tongue, which the common people do not know, Zaemon says the ships from Yucatan have carried sworn reports to the council, and that Deucalion's record has found approval.

The order is that Deucalion stand at Phorenice's side by the next dawn, as the husband she sent for, and make her see that the power which can be loosed against her is hopeless to fight.

Deucalion has seen Nais, and the order costs him, but he takes it.

Deucalion carries the chart in his head from the initiation of twenty years back, when as an appointed viceroy he was raised to the highest degree but one, and given its secrets and implements.

Deucalion owns not a coin.

Deucalion goes with the crowd to the secular ground round the stone circle, which even Phorenice has not built over.

Phorenice has read Deucalion's interest.

The fisher's life, as Deucalion sets it down, is the hardest human toil.

An airshaft lets Deucalion speak to Nais and pass her the ball.

She will lop Deucalion's right hand and left foot, so that he cannot fight, and drive him into the dangerous lands to learn fear.

He gives it up for Deucalion, then takes it back when Deucalion asks to be set ashore.

Tob's plan, before Deucalion changes it, is to haul up for the winter, because the gales are heavier than the ship can stomach, and to grow and thresh a crop before sailing again.

After two months of leisurely coasting, Deucalion is landed on the side that faces Europe.

Deucalion says the colleges taught the boundaries and the contents of the continent with more nicety than a mariner would expect.

Deucalion stands at the edge of the forest and calls the loss of Tob a desolating shock.

The chapter opens with a statement of the Dangerous Lands, as Deucalion has now to live them.

Deucalion says it could have taken Phorenice's mammoth into its belly, and that a mammoth in full charge could not have harmed it.

That note is not Deucalion's story, and I do not use it as a finding.

Deucalion is the most skilful general left, and he is to return at once.

Deucalion will not give the old blind obedience.

Deucalion is not amazed.

Ro adds that Phorenice has found the Secret of Life, which Deucalion knows as a matter beyond the Seven and reserved to the Three.

Deucalion still asks for his queen before he will give his whole mind to the war.

Zaemon says Deucalion the viceroy was a strong man, and the king they have chosen has his weakness.

Deucalion is to go into the city that night, hairy, shaggy, naked, and dirty enough to pass for a savage new landed out of Europe, and bring Nais back.

Tatho also says Deucalion is not chief, and not even one of the Three.

The name King is new, and few but Deucalion would use it.

Deucalion warns him that if there is no reign for the priest-king, there will be no Atlantis left to carry either king or empress.

Deucalion then wrecks the stair itself.

The man is Deucalion.

Ylga walks as fan-girl again, and so is still second lady in what Deucalion calls this dwindling kingdom.

She mocks Deucalion as a rustic king and as a man she has already tasted and thrown aside.